![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ebonlockvia Rising Hegemon-
Global Warming, it's what's for dinner:
A vast expanse of western Sibera is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warn today.
Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.
The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures...
...Climate scientists yesterday reacted with alarm to the finding, and warned that predictions of future global temperatures would have to be revised upwards.
"When you start messing around with these natural systems, you can end up in situations where it's unstoppable. There are no brakes you can apply," said David Viner, a senior scientist at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.
"This is a big deal because you can't put the permafrost back once it's gone. The causal effect is human activity and it will ramp up temperatures even more than our emissions are doing."
And if you haven't heard of Cindy Sheehan yet, you should really check out her story. Her son died in Iraq and she's currently camped outside of the President's ranch trying to get an audience with His Highnessness all the while his minions are doing their best to smear her name. Clear Channels is actually trying to put together an anti-Sheehan picnic in the area for this express purpose. I have this tiny flicker of hope that perhaps this will be the smear campaign that ends America's passionate but ultimately self destructive affair with the neocons...
Global Warming, it's what's for dinner:
A vast expanse of western Sibera is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warn today.
Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.
The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures...
...Climate scientists yesterday reacted with alarm to the finding, and warned that predictions of future global temperatures would have to be revised upwards.
"When you start messing around with these natural systems, you can end up in situations where it's unstoppable. There are no brakes you can apply," said David Viner, a senior scientist at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.
"This is a big deal because you can't put the permafrost back once it's gone. The causal effect is human activity and it will ramp up temperatures even more than our emissions are doing."
And if you haven't heard of Cindy Sheehan yet, you should really check out her story. Her son died in Iraq and she's currently camped outside of the President's ranch trying to get an audience with His Highnessness all the while his minions are doing their best to smear her name. Clear Channels is actually trying to put together an anti-Sheehan picnic in the area for this express purpose. I have this tiny flicker of hope that perhaps this will be the smear campaign that ends America's passionate but ultimately self destructive affair with the neocons...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Cindy Sheehan
Date: 2005-08-11 10:56 pm (UTC)Should he attend a funeral or two? Should he maybe cut back on his vacation time a little to, you know, run the country? What I find interesting about this entire debacle is that a clever politician would have simply invited the woman inside, done a quick photo op, declared his sympathy, and that would've been that. But instead this particular administration ignores the problem for a while, then sees the woman's gaining traction as a news and sends out the GOP talking heads to start defaming her.
I just find it fascinating that even when presented with a reasonable, politically viable option they still go for thuggish tactics instead.